Book review: Good old days weren’t always good for Hank Greenberg

Baseball fans of a certain age may long for the good old days when they consider today’s 4-hour-long games, pitch counts and players who wear pajama-style long pants.

But were the good old days really that good?

For Hank Greenberg, the Detroit Tiger first baseman, who in 1938 challenged Babe Ruth’s 11-year-old single-season homerun record of 60, the good old days were problematic. He is the subject of Ron Kaplan’s well-written social study “Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War” (Sports Publishing; $24.99; 235 pages).

Tall and strapping with movie-star looks and a salary to match, Greenberg was one of the game’s greatest players.

Greenberg was also Jewish, living in a Depression era America struggling with its relationship with Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime. Some Americans, Kaplan writes, sided more with Hitler than President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “They banded into hate groups that almost seemed to battle each other for ‘top honors’ in despicableness, most notably the well-established Ku Klux Klan and the relatively new Black Legion, which was based in Detroit.”

As the title suggests, “Greenberg in 1938” is a chronicle of the season as the Tiger challenges Ruth’s record despite hitting slumps, nagging injuries, beanballs, internal pressure and occasional race-baiting. Greenberg, Kaplan reports, was also beloved by many, including his teammates and fellow Jews in his native New York City.

Sportswriters of the day often referred to Greenberg’s religion -- “big kosher slugger,” “the Hebrew” -- no matter the exploit. Some, including the legendary Grantland Rice, opined that Greenberg had it easier than Ruth in his quest for 60 home runs because he played in smaller ballparks.

Kaplan writes: “As a co-religionist, Greenberg has a special affinity toward Eisenstat, offering not just the usual words of wisdom a veteran might pass along to a greenhorn but supplementing it with suggestions meant to help the younger man survive a profession that wasn’t exactly known for tolerance. One such nugget: Avoid playing cards, or at least avoid winning at cards. According to Eisenstat, Greenberg told him: ‘I would suggest that you don’t play, because you’re liable to have some redneck who may have a comment when he loses.’

“‘And that’s all. We dropped it. I understood what he meant,’” said Eisenstat.”

The cloud of war in Europe hangs over “Hank Greenberg in 1938” as the season heads toward its end. This is what sets Kaplan’s work apart from other season recap baseball books where current events add context to what was happening on the field. This context isn’t a diversion or a reminder, but a lesson.

Greenberg is worth this study, and Kaplan captures his character well.

-- Dennis Anderson is executive editor of the Journal Star in Peoria, Illinois. He can be reached at danderson@pjstar.com or on Twitter at @dennisedit.